Only hours before the start of the North American Halo Championship Series Pro League, Optic Gaming announced that they'd released Nick "Maniac" Kershner, Aaron "Ace" Elam, Bradley "APG" Laws and Richie "Heinz" Heinz from their starting roster. After dropping the roster, they announced the acquisition of the defending World Champions, Counter Logic Gaming.
"I decided that we were going to be parting ways with the current Halo roster," said Optic Gaming owner Hector "H3CZ" Rodriguez. "I feel comfortable within myself that I gave them what they needed to have in order to give me what I needed. And they didn't."
The previous Optic Gaming roster struggled through most of their tenure in Halo 5, and went through multiple player changes in the process. The team failed to qualify for the Halo World Championships in March, and then finished eighth in the NA HCS Pro League Summer Season.